


Hello, Me, It's Me Again

by Charlotte_Lancer



Series: Permanently Unfinished [8]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Chess, Established Relationship, F/M, Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Not Beta Read, Transporter Malfunction, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-06 11:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer
Summary: A transporter malfunction brings the TOS-era crew to the AOS Enterprise, leaving them stuck there until the issue can be fixed.Note RE the relationship tags: TOS-Kirk/Spock, Uhura/Scotty. AOS-Kirk/Bones, Spock/Uhura. Sorry for any confusion.





	1. The Power of the Transporter is a Curious Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets". This is only my second attempt at writing anything for Star Trek, so please tell me if I've messed something up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is (mostly) from Huey Lewis and the News' "The Power of Love."

 It was Scotty's call from the transporter room that tipped him off that something was wrong. While Scotty seemed hesitant to reveal details over the comm systems, in all the time Kirk had known the man- nearly four years now- he had never known him to call up to the bridge in  _ that _ tone of voice because a routine transport had gone perfectly according to plan. No, something had to be very wrong for that voice to come out, and Kirk quickly handed control of the bridge over to Spock, intent on finding out in person just what had gone wrong with the transporters this time.

    On the walk down to the transporter room Kirk found himself imagining the various scenarios that he might find. Perhaps the beam had picked up an extra life-form? But Kirk likely wouldn't have been called for that; whoever had been pulled along for the ride could have been sent back easily without his intervention. He certainly hoped the problem wasn't that someone  _ hadn't  _ come back that should have. Almost anything would be preferable to losing another crew member so soon after so many other were lost.

    When Kirk arrived, however, no amount of speculation could have prepared him for what he saw. His eyes went first to the older Spock, notable in that while he definitely appeared to be the same Spock that he had met on Delta Vega, he appeared much younger. Though not, he noted, as young as the Spock currently serving as his own first officer. From there he thought he had a fairly good idea of at least some of the other people who had appeared on his ship, assuming these people were from the same other universe as the one with which he was already somewhat familiar.

   For a moment, no one spoke, until Scotty- his Scotty- broke the silence with, “Well Kirk, meet yourself. And myself. And, well, you get the picture.”

Shaken back to reality, Kirk stepped forward to introduce himself to the  _ other _ crew. Holding out his hand to who he presumed was the other him, he smiled and said, “Captain James Kirk, USS Enterprise.”

The other man smiled back at him. “Same,” he said, accepting Kirk's handshake with enthusiasm. Kirk noticed that the other him wore a different colored wedding ring than his own- a bright gold to contrast his own brushed silver. He wondered what other differences there were between their worlds.

    After releasing Kirk's hand, the other him gestured towards the crew one by one. “This is Commander Spock, Lieutenant Uhura, Lieutenant Sulu, Ensign Chekov, Commander Scott, Doctor McCoy, and Nurse Chapel. Your Scotty tells us that your transporter has accidentally pulled us into your universe, and that he'll have it fixed in a few days.”

    “Should I take it your transporters are equally precarious? You all seem to be taking this well.” There were several nods and murmurs of agreement from the crowd. Apparently odd transporter malfunctions were a constant across the multiverse. He couldn't quite decide if that was more reassuring or worrying.

    “Well, if you're going to be staying a few days, I'll take you to have quarters assigned, and introduce you to some of the crew here.”

    “Perhaps you'll introduce us to your husband?” asked Uhura, looking curiously at the silver band resting on Kirk's finger. It seemed he wasn't the only one who had noticed the difference. Anyways, he was always happy to show off Bones to new people. Even of the weren't really  _ new _ people, so much as new versions of people he knew, who clearly already knew that he and Bones were married.

    “Sure! I'll call Medbay and we can head right down.”

     “Medbay?” Uhura looked surprised and concerned, as did the others, “What happened? Was he badly hurt?”

    Now it was his turn to be confused. Maybe Bones had recently been injured in their universe? “Not to my knowledge, no. But it's the middle of Alpha shift, so he should still be there.” Now the others all looked as confused as Kirk felt. He couldn't think of any other place they should be expecting McCoy to be, and the other him had already confirmed that McCoy was a doctor in their universe, too. Maybe he worked Beta shift in their world? Though Kirk still couldn't fathom how a simple shift change could cause so much confusion in the other crew.

    Scotty, his own, younger, Scotty, had a knowing look on his face, but Kirk wasn't sure he wanted to know what ideas the other man had come up with about his- or his counterparts- love life. Deciding to ignore him for now, Kirk turned to head towards Medbay, gesturing the alternate crew to follow him there.

    McCoy was not in the Medbay, due to an unfortunate mishap in one of the science labs requiring his attention, but Kirk made full introductions to the rest of the medical staff anyway. As they were leaving, Chekov- and Kirk still couldn’t quite reconcile this Chekov with the teenager he knew- asked,

    “So when do we meet your Spock?”

    “We can head to the bridge now if you'd like, I left him in charge for the time being.”

    “But you said he was in Medbay?” That was Chapel, glancing around as if she might find Spock hiding behind a bed. 

    “I never said Spock was in the Medbay. He doesn’t have any reason to be down here anyway.”

    Chekov scrunched his eyebrows together. “You said because it was Alpha shift he would be here.”

    “I think there's been a misunderstanding. I said  _ Doctor McCoy  _ would be here, not Spock.” Chekov didn’t look any less confused by the clarification, but Uhura looked shocked.

    “So, if you were referring to Doctor McCoy earlier, does that mean that in this universe you're married to Doctor McCoy?”

    “Yes, of course I'm-” suddenly he understood why they were so confused by his husband being in Medbay. In their universe his counterpart wasn't married to Bones, he was married to  _ Spock _ .

    Silence reigned for several moments, during which everyone looked extremely uncomfortable, though none more so than the alternate Doctor McCoy, who seemed- ironically- slightly green at the thought of being married to Jim.

    “...Maybe now is a good time to find you some quarters.” Aware that there could be other differences in the relationships between the other crew- such as Spock and Uhura clearly not being together- he handed the Padd to his other self and let him make the arrangements. When it was handed back to him he noticed that Uhura and Scotty were sharing a room. He couldn't see those two together in this world, but then, apparently his counterpart was  _ married _ to  _ Spock. _ Just how different  _ was  _ this other universe?

    He quickly signed his approval on the room assignments, and led the way towards the guest quarters.

 

After showing the displaced crew to their temporary quarters, Kirk returned the bridge. Immediately, a multitude of eyes looked to him, eager faces begging for any detail on their unusual guests. He gave the briefest possible status update on the situation, carefully avoiding any detail of the exact rooming arrangements they had been assigned. The information would spread about the crew eventually, to be sure, but he wanted to delay it’s dissemination for as long as possible. Hopefully it would remain a secret until after the meeting of the senior officers that he had scheduled for the end of shift.

For the rest of Alpha shift, Kirk was unable to meet Spock’s eyes. He considered Spock to be a valuable First Officer, of course, and now a good friend as well, but nothing else. There was no basis for a romantic relationship that he could find. Taken with the fact that he  _ loved _ Bones, more than he could possibly express, he just couldn’t understand what had changed things so differently in the other universe that he would be with Spock instead of Bones.

Deciding that focusing on unknowable questions wasn’t a productive use of time, Kirk sought to put that line of thinking out of his head. The relative monotony of the day made it slightly more difficult, but he was able to achieve some success provided he did not look too often towards Spock. He was sure that the rest of the bridge crew could tell that something was wrong, but they thankfully held their questions for the meeting.


	2. There Was Fear in the Dead of (Artificial) Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a play on a line from KISS's "Back to the Stone Age."

When Kirk arrived back at their quarters, Bones was thankfully already home, laying on top of the bedcovers and reading something on a datapad. He looked up as Kirk stepped into the room.

“I heard some crew members chatting earlier today, talking about some  _ unusual  _ visitors.” Bones set aside his datapad as he spoke, “I don’t think you’re going to be able to keep this quiet for very long.”

“Never thought I would. In fact, I took them for a tour earlier. We tried to stop into Medbay to see you, but the timing was off. Though the ‘visitors’, as you put it, thought we were going there to visit Spock, for reasons I don’t really want to think about right now.” Bones raised an eyebrow at that, so apparently that part of the day hadn’t reached the ship gossip yet. Or, at least, it hadn’t yet when Bones had been attending to the accident in the science labs. Kirk sighed- of all the parts of the day to have to go over, of course it would be this one. He laid down as close as possible next to Bones on the bed, pressing himself into his husband.

“Their universe is  _ weird _ , Bones, like really weird. Christine Chapel works on the Enterprise, so far they’ve mentioned at least two other crew members we don’t have, their Scotty and Uhura are together, and the other me is with  _ Spock _ !”

Bones looks a bit nauseous- and, huh, apparently the shade of green that he turned when learning about who Kirk was married to was consistent across universes. Interesting. “ _ Spock _ ? The Spock that nearly killed you not three years ago? I’m sorry, Jim, but the other you has got worse taste than I’ve ever seen from anyone in this universe.” Bones own particular brand of worried anger was evident on his face, and in this instance Kirk wasn’t exactly inclined to disagree. Though, Kirk was pretty sure that particular incident hadn’t occurred in their counterpart’s history. He voiced as much to Bones, then adding,

“Still, even without that, how much of the world had to be different for that to even be a possibility? What happened to them?” His voice sounded strained, even to himself, and he couldn’t pretend that he didn’t know exactly why. “From what I can tell the other you and the other me still met way before the Enterprise, so what the hell went wrong that we aren’t together in that universe?” Kirk, at least, had been halfway enamored within a few days of his and Bones’ first meeting. They had understood each other in a way that Kirk still had trouble putting into words even now, and they’d only grown closer during the three years they spent together at the academy.  _ Together _ . Kirk couldn’t imagine the last several years of his life without Bones by his side. Didn’t  _ want _ to imagine how things could have gone without Bones’ steady presence to ground him. The thought of not having Bones next to him was intolerable.

Silently, he reached beside him to place his hand over Bones’. Bones laced their fingers together with a reassuring squeeze, letting the silence linger for a few moments more.

“...So, Scotty and Uhura, you said? Didn’t see that one coming.” Kirk couldn’t help the laugh that came out at Bones’ words, and soon both of them were engulfed in laughter, wrapping themselves  around each other as the stress of the day melted away into a mirthful serenity.

“I love you, Bones.” Kirk pulled a blanket around them, using the opportunity to snuggle further into Bones’ side.

“I love you, too, Jim.” Bones pressed a quick kiss to Kirk’s head before settling back into place. “I love you, too.”


	3. Not Much Between Despair and Ecstasy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's nearly one am where I am, so I apologise for any mistakes. Also, I should probably clarify, as if it wasn't already obvious, that I'm playing pretty fast and loose with the timeline here. AOS stuff is roughly set about a yea after the events of Beyond, TOS is somewhere between the end of the third season and the beginning of the Animated Series.

Kirk paced the length of his newly assigned room, trying to figure out what could be done for their current situation. Both his Scotty and the younger one who had witnessed their sudden appearance in the transporter room were working towards a solution, but he couldn’t help but worry for the large number of crew who were now left without orders or most of their senior officers. While he had no doubts about his crew’s ability to function without his express direction, there was no denying that these were unprecedented circumstances. He didn’t envy the bridge officers who had not been sent to this alternate world.

Pausing in his ruminations, he looked towards Spock, who was sat tailor-style on the end of the bed. Spock looked up at the sudden lack of footfalls, read Kirk’s expression, and said,

“Lieutenants M’Ress and Arex are both capable officers. It is unlikely that they will have any substantial difficulty leading the ship in our absence. Furthermore, should the need arise, there are currently four Federation ships travelling near enough to the Enterprise that they would be able to respond to a distress signal within appropriate time parameters.”

“I know. And I know that Scotty and, well, Scotty, have the transporter under control, but still wish there was something I could do to help. I feel wrong just sitting here when the crew could be in danger.”

“An outlook befitting of a Captain. However, as there is nothing you can do at present to alter our current situation, I recommend that you do not cause yourself unnecessary distress by focussing on negative possibilities.” Spock shifted forward and repositioned himself so that he was sitting with his feet on the floor.

Spock was right, though quelling his mind proved easier said than done. He sighed, running a hand down his face.

In his earlier pacing of the room, he had noticed that they had been supplied with a chess board, and he brought it forth now, setting the box on the small table that sat to the side of the room. It was not a box he recognised, but it would take his mind off of the day’s events all the same, at least for a short while.

“Care for a game, Mr. Spock?” He smiled at his husband as he spoke, his mood already lightening as Spock stood to join him, and he was sure that Spock’s tone was lighter too as he answered;

“It would be my pleasure, Jim.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "One Night In Bangkok" by Murray Head, which is literally a song about chess.


	4. Large and In Charge

When Kirk arrived on the bridge the next morning, the quantity of his bridge crew had doubled. The presence of the extra crew didn’t seem to be affecting productivity; each double was quietly observing their younger counterpart, save for the other himself, who seemed to be observing both crews as a whole.

He had been informed early in the morning that the other Scotty planned to help with the transporter modifications, so he was unsurprised by the man’s absence, and he presumed that Chapel and the alternate Dr. McCoy were observing the sickbay, as they were not present on the bridge either. Hopefully with both Scottys working on the transporter, the issue could be solved sooner. It wasn’t that he minded having the other crew aboard, per say, but they were just different enough from the people he knew and cared for to seem  _ off _ .

He was brought out of his thoughts by Uhura’s voice,

“Captain, there is an unidentified ship hailing us. They do not appear to be a Federation vessel.”

“Put it on the viewscreen, Lieutenant.”

The man that appeared on the screen had dark hair, a dark beard, and was surrounded giant pink balls of fur. The pink things were vibrating intensely, and the largest among them sat in the chair behind the unfamiliar man.

“Kirk! Kirk, this is unacceptable! This was not part of our deal!”

“Our part of the agreement was fulfilled when we gave you the Glommer, Koloth,” said the older Kirk, coming forward to stand beside the command chair. Apparently this universe had more visitors than just the duplicate crew.

“Yes, but you also gave us these tribbles! They are everywhere! And they’re too big to move! The Glommer cannot eat these creatures, they are bigger than the Glommer!” Those pink things were  _ tribbles _ ? Kirk certainly didn’t envy this Koloth person. At least the tribbles here weren’t the size of a boulder.

“Koloth, how did you even get here?”

“How should I know? Ask the tribbles, they’ve infested our controls, blocked our machinery, and filled the engineering room! That one is Captain now!” Koloth gestured to the large tribble behind him, flinching slightly when it trilled angrily. “Fix this!” Koloth glanced down, seemingly noticing the younger Kirk for the first time. “Or your son will pay for it!”

“By what weapons, Koloth? You said it yourself- the tribbles are in charge now.” There was poorly-concealed mirth in his voice, and Koloth only looked angrier at the slight. Koloth opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a tribble crawled across the control panel, and the screen went black.

Kirk turned to his older counterpart, waiting for an explanation. His counterpart stared back. Kirk stared harder.

“Fine,” said his counterpart, “but get Scotty up here, this is his fault too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No song for the chapter title this time- just a tribble joke.


End file.
